Dominic Harris at Expo Sunderland

Dominic Harris has unveiled a new work for Expo Sunderland, a growing event launched in 2023 aimed at centring residents and businesses in a bid to spotlight the city’s ongoing transformation. The programme concerns three core areas: Future Homes, Future Living and Future City. The initiative’s goals include researching greener, more affordable housing, developing community-led initiatives to connect people from all walks of life, and exploring potential technological advancements that can harness Sunderland’s rich industrial history and infrastructure, positioning the city as a smart hub and the epicentre of future connectivity.

Currently, the transparent digital screen showcases one of Dominic Harris’ latest works, NeoBloom, a series of three digitally sculpted flowers. The title encapsulates Harris’ core themes of renewal and beauty, while also reflecting his broader aim of blending natural motifs with contemporary digital expression. The blooms are individually named Titania, Hermia and Oberon, after characters from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These flowers are entirely imagined by the artist, who plays with associations to the play’s fantastical themes, ethereality and liminal spaces. This positioning places the artwork in otherworldly, dreamlike surroundings as portrayed in the play’s narrative. Inspired by the natural world and fascinated by the life cycle of animals and evolutionary processes, these flowers – though imagined – seem so effortless in their perpetual ‘crowning moment of beauty’ that they appear as true adaptations. The aim was not to create biologically correct blooms, but rather to centre a study of colour and growth. This level of detail allows Harris to explore the concept of flowers in a fresh and engaging way.

As with much of Harris' work, there is an element of viewer interaction that enlivens the visual experience. Motion sensors detect your approach, triggering the flowers to burst into motion. Harris explains, ‘presence triggers a “big bloom” – a moment of dramatic transformation where the flower releases its petals in a breathtaking display before regrowing, symbolising rebirth and eternal renewal.’ By emphasising 'rebirth,' this series explores themes of time and permanence, challenging traditional views of art.

In addition, the work seeks to engage in the debate surrounding the role of artificial intelligence in art. Harris emphasises the human-centred nature of the creative process, coding each individual movement, modelling and animation by hand. The unique textures given to each flower derive from hand-painted references from the artist, ensuring a level of personal detail, entirely absent in artificially designed works.

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